1. pets
2. birds

Spring 2015 Vol. 6 No. 2
Friends of Whitfield Newsletter
Photos by Nick Nicolaus
TheFriendsofWhitfieldWildlifeConservationAreasupportsthisConservation
Areainpromotingwildlifeconservationandenvironmentaleducation.
Calendar
Photo by D Varela Phillips
Chairman's Corner
As spring tries to make its way into New Mexico, we are challenged
Nature Walks
Led by Master Naturalists
Monthly on the third Saturday
9 AM
May 16, June 20, July 18,
August 15, September 19,
October 17 & November 21
Whitfield Membership/Board
Visioning Session - Saturday,
June 13 9AM - 11AM
Friends of Whitfield Bi-Monthly
Board Meetings 1st Saturday
July 11, September 5
All are Welcome!
Friends of Whitfield Project
Meetings 1st Saturday
Alternating Months
June 6, August 1, October 3
Desert Willow Festival
Saturday, August 8
For information: (505) 864-8914
with up and down temperatures and the usual windy days. We started
off May with some welcomed rain that we all prayed for and hope to see
more of. With this change in seasons comes more and more visitors to
Whitfield. We could certainly use more volunteers on Fridays and
Saturdays to help greet these folks and tell them about Whitfield.
We are busy sprucing up the place and with the help of a grant from
PNM through the Central New Mexico Audubon Society, we will soon
have an extensive display of native cacti to show off. The cactus garden is
being planned by Whitfield manager, Ted Hodoba, and will have signage
identifying all the different species of cacti. Once they are established,
we should have a brilliant display of cacti flowers to show to one and all.
We will soon have a Friend’s web page for all to view and keep up on
events happening at Whitfield.
We are working with the Whitfield manager to come up with programs
for every month of the year. Some will be hands-on instruction classes,
while others will have guest speakers.
At our Annual Membership meeting, with 40 in attendance, we had as
our guest speaker, Kirsten Cruz-McDonnell, who provided us with a great
program on Burrowing Owls and showed some video clips that had us all
laughing. She gave us some great insights into the lives of the Burrowing
Owls and alerted us to the fact that the populations seem to be on the
decline. She answered many questions from the audience. We are in the
process of providing new habitat for Burrowing Owls here at Whitfield
and hope to have some take up residence in the coming months.
Thanks to all for your support – we hope to see you in the coming
summer months. Stop by and see the changes taking place at Whitfield.
Nick Nicolaus
President
Summer Tanager
Dolores
Varela Phillips
POBox170,BelenNM87002friendsofwhitfield@gmail.comwww.friendsofwhitfield.org
facebook.com/friendsofwwca
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Spring 2015
Friends of Whitfield Newsletter
Project Manager’s Update
Ted Hodoba
Kids and Whitfield
Ted Hodoba
International Migratory Bird Day, May 9, 2015
We held our third annual celebration of International
Migratory Bird Day that was created to draw
attention to the fact that migrating birds do not
recognize man-made borders and are subject to
things we do as humans in different countries.
A bird count is always part of the day and this year,
Linda Heinze once again lead the project. The count
took place from 7 am to 11 am. This was followed by
a presentation once again by Wings of Enchantment
Butterfly Farm and a release of butterflies as we did
last year on Earth Day. Once again, butterflies were
available for purchase. We decided to include
butterflies as Monarchs migrate as well as birds and
migration is the theme for us this year at Whitfield.
(See count on P.4)
Girls on the Run
On April 28, approximately 42 girls and parents came
and under my direction, we planted 50 cottonwood
trees in the northwest corner of Whitfield as a
community service project. Girls on the Run is a
program in the Belen Public Schools that
encourages girls to be physically active, especially
walking and running. It is an international program
across the United States and Canada.
Margette dressed as a Monarch Butterfly
Thursday Birders
The Audubon Thursday Birders group came and
visited Whitfield on their annual spring visit to
Whitfield. They visit quarterly, once during each
season of the year. They have been doing this for
several years and once a year make a donation to our
Friends group of money to be used in the promotion
of birding and birds. We have used previous monies
to purchase bird seed, seed blocks, and books on
birds for the Whitfield library.
Continued on p.3
Hands On Experience for Belen Students
For the third year in a row, Belen teacher
Roberta Sanchez has brought her special education
students every Thursday to work at Whitfield. The
students do various tasks including weeding,
planting, and other tasks. I’d like to thank Roberta
and her students for volunteering and for their hard
work at Whitfield.
Albertsons' & Smith's Community Programs
Albertsons' Community Partners program
consistently sends Whitfield a check. This is because
you Albertson's shoppers use your Whitfield scan
card every time you shop. If you don't have this card
come pick one up at Whitfield Visitor Center.
Also, Smith's has their Community Rewards
program. You can link your Smith's card to Whitfield
online. Go to www.smithscommunityrewards.com
and enter our number: NPO #23579.
THANK YOU FOR HELPING SUPPORT WHITFIELD!
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Spring 2015
Friends of Whitfield Newsletter
Project Manager's Update
Continued from P. 2
Friends of the Whitfield Wildlife Conservation
Area
On April 11, the Friends held their Annual Meeting
of their membership. They had a speaker on
burrowing owls, which was very entertaining as well
as informative.
I spoke with the speaker afterwards and in a followup email discussed with her the ways to attract
burrowing owls to Whitfield. She said there is no
point to creating artificial burrows if we have prairie
dogs as they would just ignore them for the real
thing. Instead she said we should construct perches
to attract them. Materials have been purchased to
do so and we will be installing them soon.
Education
Six different school groups, some with more than
one class, visited Whitfield as part of the Whitfield
Education Program, which is conducted by our
Friends organization.
Earth Day
We held our third annual Earth Day Celebration in
cooperation with the School of Dreams Academy (SODA)
in Los Lunas. The day began with a nature walk led by
Master Naturalist, Linda Heinze. A group of about 10 Girl
Scouts joined her along with other members of the public.
Afterward, SODA students served up their Earth Day
Cupcakes and Groundwater Parfaits to all. This was
followed by a presentation by Prairie Dog Pals complete
with live prairie dogs. About 46 people attended the event.
VSWCD Board Members Teresa Smith de Cherif and
Andrew Hautzinger and former Board Member Charlie
Sanchez Jr. attended the event.
Rio Abajo Botanical Garden at the Whitfield Wildlife
Conservation Area
We have received a grant from PNM and the Central New
Mexico Audubon Society that I wrote in the amount of
$3,326.40 through our Friends organization for the cactus
garden at Whitfield. This money will go for signage,
gravel, and plants. I received word yesterday the Audubon
group may be providing addition funding for signage.
I am in touch with the designer on a large sign, have sent
in an order for cacti, and visited a gravel operation to
choose decorative gravel and anticipate ordering it soon.
Whitfield Master Naturalist Program
On April 4, the Master Naturalist students toured
Whitfield and on April 25, the group took a field trip
to Abo ruins including a tour by the ranger of the
petroglyph site there.
Prairie Dog Pals - Earth Day
All Photos by Linda Heinze
Field Work
Our field workers have been working on increasing our
irrigation efficiency. Mark Sanchez used a back hoe to
clean out the culverts to enable us to create a stronger
flow of water to the northwest section of the Whitfield
Property. We also used the backhoe to plug up a hole
created by a prairie dog that was leaking water from the
wildflower meadow into the pond when we tried to irrigate
the meadow.
The backhoe was also used to bring soil up to the cactus
garden, which is under construction. This is a priority
project as we need to get the previously mentioned grant
funding money spent.
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Spring 2015
Friends of Whitfield Newsletter
International Migratory Bird Day
Banner Birding Day!
By Linda Heinze
Whitfield's 2015 International Migratory Day Bird Count
was a record high count of bird species since its intiation in
2009.
Five birders spent four hours looking, listening and listing
what we saw and heard on Saturday, May 9. We noted 50
species with a total of over 300 birds. These data were
submitted to Cornell’s e-bird.org to be combined with bird
counts in North America. There is a lot of interesting
information on that website, including all reports sent in
for Whitfield.
Some of our count highlights were: 5 Common
Yellowthroats, 2 Green Herons, 8 Bullock’s Orioles, 4
Western Tanagers, 2 Gray Flycatchers, 2 Summer Tanagers,
2 Yellow-breasted Chats, and a pair of Wood Ducks
perched on the Wood Duck box in the little pond on the
western side of Whitfield. The female Wood Duck entered
the box and stayed there for a while before she emerged
and dropped into the pond. This is the best time of year to
see the bright, colorful plumages on so many of the birds,
so put on your insect repellant and take a leisurely walk.
Wood Duck - Dolores Varela Phillips
Birds on the log
Photo by Linda Heinze
Fourth Grade Annual Meeting Essay Contest
Winners
"What does Whitfield Mean to Me"
The Friends of Whitfield WCA held our Annual Essay
Contest in conjunction with our Annual Membership
Meeting. The meeting took place on Saturday, 11
April 2015. A large crowd of people attended the
meeting including family members of the Essay
contestants.
There were three students taking top honors and five
students receiving honorable mention. The three top
honors went to Ivy Gabaldon, First Place; Natilie
Grimm, Second Place and Christopher Loera, Third
Place. All three of them were from Los Lunas Schools.
They all received a bird identification book, The Sibley
Guide to Birds, and Ivy Gabaldon also received a fine
pair of binoculars. The students had a chance to read
their essays in front of the audience and received a
well-deserved applause for their efforts. The essays
seem to be getting better every year.
Also present for the ceremony were the Honorable
Mention essay writers. From Los Lunas Schools were
Jordan Montoya and Joy Martin and representing
Belen Schools were Nicholas Romero, Nikki Baca, and
Luciano Gomez.
Thanks to all who came to show their support for
these talented students. We plan to exhibit the three
winning essays along with the students' photos at
Whitfield.
Nick Nicolaus
Christopher Loera, Natalie Grimm, Nikki Baca, Ivy Gabaldon
Birds on the Log and
By Nicholas
Linda Heinze
Romero
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Spring 2015
Friends of Whitfield Board of Directors
[email protected]
President: Nick Nicolaus (2016)*
[email protected]
Vice-President: Open
[email protected]
Secretary: Jeannine Kimble (2016)*
[email protected]
Treasurer: Dolores Varela Phillips (2015)*
[email protected]
Members
Ron Goens (2015)*
[email protected]
Member: Open
*term expires
Coordinators
Ambassadors: Ron Goens
[email protected] or
[email protected]
Classroom Environmental Education:
Molly Madden
[email protected]
E-Mail Coordinator: Dolores Varela Phillips
[email protected]
Friends of Whitfield Newsletter
Your support is so appreciated! If you have not
joined or renewed for 2015 please do so today!
Membership Application
(Please print neatly)
Name_____________________________________________
Family Members____________________________________
(if Family Membership)
Address___________________________________________
City State__________________________________________
Zip__________Phone________________________________
Email_____________________________________________
Membership Level
________Renewal ________New
_____lndividual $10
_____Senior $5
_____Family $20
_____Special Friend $60
_____Student $5
_____Business Sponsor $200
Please check the Volunteer opportunities that interest you:
_____Ambassador ______Education
_____Library Help ______Outdoor Tasks
_____Fundraising ______Special Events
Please fill out and either mail or bring in to Visitors' Center
with your check or money order to:
Fundraising/Special Events: Open
Media Liaison: OPEN
Membership: Dolores Varela Phillips
[email protected]
Newsletter Team: Dolores Varela Phillips
[email protected]
Jim Rickey
[email protected]
Linda Heinze [email protected]
Nick Nicolaus [email protected]
Outdoor: OPEN
Outreach: OPEN
Volunteer: Madeline Miller
[email protected]
(505)-864-8914
Whitfield Project Manager
(VSWCD)
Ted Hodoba
(505)-864-8914
[email protected]
www.whitfieldwildlife.org
Whitfield Wildlife Conservation Area is located at:
2424 Hwy 47, Belen, NM
© Friends of Whitfield
Friends of Whitfield Wildlife Conservation Area
PO Box 170
Belen, NM 87002
[email protected]
www.friendsofwhitfield.org
Thank you!
Friends of Whitfield Wildlife Conservation Area is a registered
501 (c)3 non-profit organization incorporated in 2008 to
support the purposes for which the WWCA was created.
Kudos to all our VOLUNTEERS!
You are so appreciated for all
you do for Whitfield!
We need more of you so come join
the fun and dedication.
Be a
Whitfield Volunteer!
Contact: Madeline Miller at:
[email protected]
(505)-864-8914
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